Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Crimson Fist

The invasion of Rynns World by the Ork Warlord Snagrod the Arch-arsonist of Charadon came as no surprise to anyone. In fact, Snagrod's eternal boasting about his conquest of the neighboring system of Badlanding had come to the attention of even Commander Pedro Cantor, Chapter Leader of the Crimson Fist Space Marines. But, in common with the rest of the population, the Marine leader had always maintained that, 'it couldn't happen here,' and that, 'no stinking little Ork Warlord was going to mess with the Crimson Fists.' In common with the rest of the population he was dead wrong. If Cantor had taken the Ork's threats a little more seriously things might have been different, if the planet's defenses had even been at full alert things would certainly have been different, and had the stray defence missile not fallen to the ground directly on top of the Marine's Arsenal things would have been very different indeed. For one thing, Cantor wouldn't be holed up from the night in a burnt out farm, waiting for an opportune moment to sneak into New Rynn City--the largest settlement on the world and the only one still in human hands. The Ork patrols had passed increasingly frequently as the surviving Marines approached the city, and it was inevitable that sooner or later they would have to fight.

-Rogue Trader, Battle at the Farm

If only Chapter Leader Pedro Cantor had some Primaris Marines, he might have made short work of the Arch-arsonist (which, imo is the greatest sobriquet ever).

Since I first saw the cover of Rogue Trader (although I first saw it as the cover of second edition), I have really dug the look of the crimson fists. I've tried to paint them in the past but never been happy with how they turned out, they were always too blue, too much like ultramarines. Then, I met He of Three Names and saw his awesome Crimson Fists. Crimson Fists that are no longer viewable thanks to Photobucket's fuckery.

Anyway, Bulldog Lopez's recipe for them was pretty easy, VMC 70899 Dark Prussian Blue base and highlights of VMC 70930 Dark Blue and VMC 70961 Sky Blue. My first few tests with this, however, came out pretty much as bad as my previous attempts. In between then and this attempt, though, I got to know my airbrush a little better and I began to analyze how I applied Fishkiller's recipe. This time, I applied a black prime in the recesses but a white prime zenithaly. I then applied a base of the VMC Dark Prussian Blue mixed with Black, followed by pure Dark Prussian Blue, Dark Prussian Blue mixed with Dark Blue, and finally pure Dark Blue, each applied at a higher angle. After that dried, I washed the whole model with Nuln Oil Gloss. From there, I edge highlighted by mixing in small amounts of Sky Blue, which is a really strong color, until I was happy with the end results. I also used a black enamel pin wash in all the armor cracks to increase the contrast.

For the red, I deviated from Darrin's recipe, instead using Khorne Red, then Wazdakka Red, and then mixing in Fire Dragon Bright. The tactical arrow was merely painted over a decal while the shoulder pad was from Pop Goes the Monkey. Finally, for the chest eagle, I departed from the boring silver the studio uses and painted it with VMC Deck Tan, washed with thinned Nuln Oil, and highlighted by mixing in white.

Now that I think I have my method down, I can start on some of my rouge trader marines!